Could you tell me how to properly say these sentences please?

Question

Could you please tell me how to properly say this sentence? I wrote in bold what I think of some.

1 I will tell him what I did before I am/will be blackmailed by you.

2 She's going to be mean to me when we are older. I think OK

3 Some people don't look a whole different with a beard than without but I look radically
different with one and not in a good way.

4 We would gout out all ten of us and every time, there was money missing on the tab, as if one person hadn't paid all the owed. The second I stopped being friends with X, the was no longer money missing the tab.

5 In no job will you work so little for so much. OK

6 What's the most money you've ever lent someone. OK

7 I live on the edge/border of the X district and Y district in Paris.

8 The food was good, but compared to the food there, it wasn't great. OK

9 Which friend do most of your friends hate most? (does this make sense?)

10 How did they get here after us and leave before us?

11 We are used to seeing young adults play/playing 16 year old teenagers in movies that
it no longer shocks us to see them.

12 The death of their friend brought the 3 friends closer again. OK to me

13 Other than kill/killing her, I don't know what else their secret can be.

14 Instead of going out less and less, oddly we go out more and more now that we have
a child.

15 She would do that to me before I did/would do that to her.

Thank you so much

Free_spirit · Accepted Answer

1 I will tell him what I did before I ~~am/~~will be blackmailed by you. [without the context it is a little difficult to know. - you could also say "I'd rather tell him what I did than be blackmailed by you." or similar]

2 She's going to be mean to me when we are older. I think OK [ok]

3 Some people don't look a whole lot different with a beard than without, but I look radically
different with one and not in a good way. [Personally I'd say "much different" instead of "a while lot different"]

4 We would go out, all ten of us, and every time there was money missing on the tab, as if one person hadn't paid all that was owed. The second I stopped being friends with X, the was no longer money missing the tab.

5 In no job will you work so little for so much. OK

6 What's the most money you've ever lent someone. OK [ok]

7 I live on the ~~edge/~~border of the X district and Y district in Paris.

8 The food was good, but compared to the food there, it wasn't great. OK [ok]

9 Which friend do most of your friends hate most? (does this make sense?) [ok - maybe better "Which of your friends do most of your other friends hate the most?" ?]

10 How did they get here after us and leave before us? [ok]

11 We are so used to seeing young adults ~~play/~~playing 16 year old teenagers in movies that
it no longer shocks us to see them.

12 The death of their friend brought the 3 friends closer again. OK to me [ok]

13 Other than ~~kill/~~killing her, I don't know what else their secret can be.

14 Instead of going out less and less, oddly [enough], we go out more and more now that we have
a child. [I'd probably say "oddly enough"]

15 She would do that to me before I did/would do that to her. [It depends on the context ... if it is past tense, you can use 'did'. If you are speaking speculatively of the future, that she 'might' do something, you can use "would".]

Holyduke · Answer

1 I will tell him what I did before I ~~am/~~will be blackmailed by you. [without the context it is a little difficult to know. - you could also say "I'd rather tell him what I did than be blackmailed by you." or similar]
I agree on your example sentence, it is so much clearer. But somehow, I rather delete the will be

I will tell him what I did before I am/~~will be~~ blackmailed by you

Don't know why, could someone explain this to me?

5 In no job will you work so little for so much. OK
I think it means: There isn't any job in the world where you can earn so much with so little effort/work.

10 How did they get here after us and leave before us? [ok]
I think it is ok, but I prefer: How did they get here after we did and leave before we do/did? (depending whether we have left or not)

Is it the same argument of He is smarter than me vs. He is smarter than I am?

15 She would do that to me before I did/would do that to her. [It depends on the context ... if it is past tense, you can use 'did'. If you are speaking speculatively of the future, that she 'might' do something, you can use "would".]
Would this better if the second "that" be replaced with "it"?

Alc24 · Answer

Thank you Graeme,

I had some questions please

For 1

X has been blackmailing Y for a while now and Y has finally had enough and says

I will tell him what I did before I will be blackmailed by you again.
I will tell him what I did before I am blackmailed by you again.

Can you say both?

For 2

Are older or Get older?

For 3

Is it natural to say "radically different"

For 4

and every time there was money missing on the tab Bold bit something you'd say?

For 5

Someone tells you they have the perfect job, they don't work alot yet they get paid well.

they say In no job will you work so little for so much.

For 7

With the word "border" can you say "on the border of X AND Y or on the border of X. (full stop)

For 11

In English can you use SHOCKS like that?

For 13

Would you say "Other than killing her, or Other than having killed her" if the person is dead but the audience doesn't know for a fact that they did it.

Thank you so much Graeme

Could you tell me how to properly say these sentences please?

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